Bolt the Superdog: Research Rescue
by Myiathealbino
Summary: Bolt and Penny's new life with Dr. Forrester is amazing. but all good things must come to an end as Dr. Forrester attempts to perfect his experiments. Calico is on the loose again and about as hungry for power as a starved mountain lion. it's time for Bolt to throw himself back into the line of work he was created for, as they say, old habits die hard, right?
1. Chapter 1: Farmhouse Disaster

It was 4 o'clock in the morning and Penny was feeding the chickens. Bolt was watching nearby but almost as soon as Penny had finished, an ear splitting scream pierced the air. Bolt leapt up onto his feet, muscles tense, hackles raised, his gaze locked onto the basement hatch, ready to fire his deadly laser vision. To Bolt and Penny's relief, the person that came out was Dr. Forrester.

"Someone has stolen my experiments!" he cried.

"What kind of low life would do that around here?" Penny asked confused. Bolt growled as if to tell her the answer.

"Calico!" said Penny and Dr. Forrester at the same time.

"Bolt, I need you to get them back!" Dr. Forrester turned to his super powered pooch. Bolt lowered his head in response and turned.

"Come on Bolt!" Penny called as she and her dog dashed off.

"Penny!" Dr. Forrester called. The two stopped.

"Yes?" Penny asked reluctantly, seemingly knowing where this was going.

"I need you to stay here."

"But why?" she complained.

"Bolt can handle himself. I can't risk Calico capturing you. Besides, if Calico planned this as a distraction and is coming back for me, I need you to defend us… it's not ideal either considering Calico could just as easily capture you, but there's still a chance no one could get captured at all. Sometimes I wish there were two Bolts, but until I get those experiments back and refine them, that's an impossibility." Penny sighed.

"Bolt?" the super dog moved his gaze from Dr. Forrester to her. "fetch." She said monosyllabically, pointing to the path. The super dog turned and dashed down the path that served as their driveway. Once around the corner he sniffed around and discovered Calico's scent heading down a path that lead to a cave behind a waterfall. The scent took him down the path before heading up a hill where he and Penny often played to the top and over the crest, an area that Dr. Forrester said was forbidden as it wasn't part of their land. Bolt followed the river for a time before discovering a bottle of pills that had been dropped.

" _Surprised it didn't smash."_ Bolt thought to himself, picking up the bottle and carrying it home. He took it to Dr. Forrester who was sitting by the basement hatch.

"Good boy." He said, taking the bottle from Bolt. "Find the rest of them." Then, he headed down into the basement. Bolt turned around and raced back up and over the hill. Bolt looked from left to right for more pills as he ran along the river before bumping into a familiar face.

"No time to talk!" said the black Labrador mutt, running past. Seconds later someone else ran into him.

"Watch where you're going." The wolfdog growled. Then his eyes widened and he pinned Bolt with one paw. "Bolt!" the wolfdog pricked his claws into the super dog. "So, you foolishly came to find the professor's experiments eh? Left him wide open for attack and capture. Not much like a super dog. You can search for a thousand years if you like, but you'll never find them, so I suggest you go home. If I find you here again, I'm going to be very angry. And you know what I'm like when I'm angry." He got off Bolt and left.

"Bolt!" the super dog looked up to see a German Sheppard mutt running over. "Hey! Remember me?" Bolt tilted his head.

"Sorry brother, I don't." he replied.

"I'm not your brother. It's me, Boris!" Bolt thought.

"Boris… not really… you were there in the forest… right?" the German Sheppard nodded.

"Yeah that's right! The forest!"

"Good to see you again anyways?"

"Yeah! Come on! Follow me!" the energetic Sheppard dashed off, the super dog following behind. "I saw something shiny in that cave over there. Let's check it out!" the two ran into the cave. "What's this bottle doing here?" Boris nosed it around. "I really hate litterers."

"I know. Here, let me dispose of it." Bolt picked up the bottle of green pills and ran away with it. He later returned after leaving it by the basement hatch. "My owners should find it and get rid of it." He told Boris.

"Great. I see something shiny at the bottom of this chasm. I was about to jump, but I think I hear rushing water, and I hate getting wet."

"Why would you even think about jumping?! You don't know how far down it is! You could be killed!" Bolt barked at him.

"But what about the shiny thing?" Boris argued, jumping past Bolt to look over the edge. It was very far down, but it didn't faze him one bit. Bolt stared.

"I'm going now." He said, walking out of the cave.

"NO!" Boris jumped in front of him aggressively before the super dog had barely taken a step. Bolt's ears drooped at the tips as he heard a faint crack. "I want to know what the shiny thing is!" Boris barked aggressively, striding forwards. Bolt backed away, looking at the edge of the chasm panicked.

"Hey you two." Barked a new voice. Boris turned and Bolt looked past him to see the black Labrador mutt from earlier.

"Hello brother. Apologies if this is your cave, we can leave." Bolt barked to him.

"Nah, its fine, I just come in here sometimes when I want to hide, or when I feel like it. Black fur seems to attract me to dark locations. Name's Alex."

"Cool." Boris turned back around and put his muzzle in Bolt's face. "I want you to go down there, and get me the shiny thing." He said lowly. Then he had a better idea. "Hey Alex, what's the shiny thing down there?" Alex peeked over the chasm.

"Oh that? Dunno, no one's ever been down there, way too far, you'd probably die."

"Well, there's a first time for everything, I'd go myself but I hate getting wet." He pushed Alex closer to the edge as if to say 'go on'.

"Whoa! No way. I value my life; I've got two sisters for howling out loud." The Labrador yapped.

"You go." Boris turned to Bolt.

"What? No!" the super dog barked. Boris growled in frustration.

"One way or another, someone is going down there!" Boris slid Alex to the edge and shoved him over. The Labrador yelped, desperately grabbing the edge of the chasm. Bolt dashed over, grabbed the German Sheppard by the scruff to paralyse him and threw him away from the edge. The Sheppard landed with a thud, cracking the ground around him. Bolt grabbed Alex and dragged him back onto the ledge.

"Thanks Bolt." the Labrador panted.

"No problem– wait how'd you know my name?"

"I saw the dog tag." Alex panted

"Oh."

"Look out!" Boris seemed to have recovered and jumped at Bolt. The super dog acted on reflex, lashing out with his back legs into the Sheppard's stomach and knocking him back to his impact crater, cracking the ground further. Afraid he'd hurt him badly, Bolt dashed over. Luckily he only seemed winded. Slowly the German Sheppard mutt opened his eyes. They widened when he saw Bolt and he bit the super dog's paw. Bolt yelped in surprise and Boris gave him a hefty shove. Bolt hit the ground and tiny cracks formed around his body. Bolt's eyes widened in fear.

"Nobody… move…" he whined. After a few minutes, Boris stamped his paw on the ground.

"This is stupid!" instantly, there was more cracking. Boris gulped and slowly backed away. After a while the tension was too much for him. Yelping, he leapt to his back legs before crashing down onto all fours and turning tail to run. There was a smashing sound and the ground lurched forward, tearing Boris's legs from beneath him and sending him sprawling on his tummy. Alex fell over too and the whole ledge began to fall into the chasm. Yelping, Boris leapt for the edge, just making it and hung on for dear life as the part of the ledge they'd been standing on fell into the abyss and plunged into a fast moving river.


	2. Chapter 2: Danger Rising

Boris ran fast through the forest. He hated the heavy feeling of water soaked into his fur, he hated the thought of being trapped underwater for even a second, he hated the cold damp feeling he got when water soaked into his skin. The sound of rushing water was a strong panic trigger. The mutt German Sheppard's eyes were wide with fear as he streaked down the tree covered hill. Out of an opening in the hill, the rushing river came pouring out, full pelt. Boris pulled his ears right back to block out the noise and kept running. His fearful eyes locked on the water in case it attacked him. There was a rock ledge up ahead and Boris leapt out onto it. The raging river hit the rock and sloshed about beneath him. Spray flicked up fiercely at him and the German Sheppard struggled to avoid choking on the fear. He riveted his eyes on the cave mouth, searching for something, anything. There was something black in the water. Boris looked around panicked and spotted a fallen tree nearby. Running as fast as he could, he grabbed the tree by one of its roots and pulled. He managed to drag it to the ledge and get it into the water, at the expense of his own life. As Boris struggled for air, he saw a black Labrador caught on the tree he'd dragged into the river and breathed an internal sigh of relief.

Alex held onto the tree that had fallen into the river, trying to get his breath back. As he panted he caught sight of another dog, a brown one, struggling in the water. As he looked he realized it was the same dog that had caused him and Bolt to fall in the river. Alex realized he must've either decided to drown himself, tried to save him, or put this tree here. Alex scrambled up the tree onto the land and shook his fur dry before charging along the bank of the river. Having placed first in around six agility trials, Alex's speed ranked him among the fastest dogs around. He caught up to the struggling German Sheppard mutt in the river and lapped him, charging towards the waterfall up ahead. With minutes to spare by the time he got there, Alex found a large rock and began pushing it. Although his speed was well above par, his strength was sadly lacking and moving the rock proved a challenge. Just when he thought he might not make it, an unknown force hit the rock and it went flying into the river, blocking the water from reaching the fall. Alex panted.

"phew." He turned around to see the assist had come from a pedigree golden retriever. "Thanks for the help Mr…?"

"The name's Isai." The golden retriever replied.

"Alex." Isai raised his eyebrows.

"Small world. I know an Alex from the place I'm originally from."

"Popular name eh?" they were interrupted by Boris smashing into the rock. "Oh so that's why you wanted to move the rock?" Isai asked, pulling the mutt German Sheppard out.

"Yeah, this guy made me fall in the river, but then he also saved me, getting himself in trouble in the process, you know what they say; one good turn deserves another."

"It sure does." Isai looked to the Sheppard. "What's your name, kid?"

"Boris." Boris panted, coughing.

"Well. You two would do well to go to my shack near here and dry off. Here, I'll take you."

"You can take Boris, a friend fell into the water with me, and so I'll stay here and wait for him." Alex turned back to the river.

"Ok. I'll take Boris here to my shack, my mate Satori can take care of him. I'll come back with my owner's cat, Sheila; she can take you to the shack while I wait for your friend." And with that, Isai picked up Boris and headed to his shack.


	3. Chapter 3: Centre Scramble

The sun was well up by the time Bolt woke up. Three bottles of pills lay around him and lying nearby was a pair of familiar golden retrievers.

"Hello again Bolt." said the pedigree. Bolt groaned.

"What? Who are you…?"

"Don't you remember? It's Isai." Bolt's eyes opened wide.

"Oh! Of course!" Bolt sat up, the blanket that was over him slipping down. "And you're… Satori, right?" he asked the mutt next to him. The dog nodded. Bolt nodded back. "Thanks for that ring, it was very helpful."

"I knew it." Satori grinned. "By the way, what happened to it?"

"It's at home with the rest of the stuff I received. Want it back?"

"Well, it is a family heirloom and exists only to be passed down to our young, giving it to someone is like passing it on all the same. I gave it to you, so, do what you wish with it."

"Ok." Bolt wagged his tail. "Could you two do me a favour?"

"Of course, anything." Isai said immediately.

"I need help getting these bottles home." The super dog barked.

"Say no more." Replied Satori, grabbing a bottle. Isai took another and Bolt took the last one.

"Lead on, Bolt." Isai told the super dog. Bolt headed off for home and scratched on the basement door when he arrived. Dr. Forrester appeared and took the bottles from the dogs.

"Thank you Bolt." the doctor scratched each dog's head as they handed him the bottles before disappearing back into the basement. Then he reappeared again. "Bolt, there's something you need to see, look here." He pulled out his phone and played back a video recording sent to him in text format.

"Hello professor." Chimed a charming British accent. Bolt growled as soon as he heard it. "As you can see, I am here in the centre with our darling mayor. The poor guy has his hands all tied up in politics and the like, and unless you deliver yourself back to me, we will be preforming a little experiment of our own, your research was helpful to us you see and we were contemplating whether or not to observe whether or not the mayor has nine lives. You have two hours to comply." The transmission shut off.

"Penny's already down there scouting the situation out. I'd hate to think what'd happen if Calico finds out." Bolt snarled fiercely. "You know what to do. Fetch." Bolt ran off, Isai and Satori in tow.

"So, that guy's your owner?" Isai asked as they ran.

"He's my owner's father." Bolt corrected him. "I suppose he would've paid for me at the rescue centre, but his daughter Penny adopted me."

"That guy on the video feed, I've seen him before somewhere." Satori commented.

"Of course you have!" Isai said, rapidly running out of breath. "He's the same dude that took over our land a while back!"

"Oh. Heh, I guess now's our chance to make him pay!" the trio burst into the centre where a crowd was gathered. Calico had a flair for the dramatic obviously because he had made no attempt to keep his abduction a secret. Bolt quickly tracked down Penny.

"Hey boy. Things are looking real nasty at the head of the crowd. There are goons everywhere, and that wolfdog is pacing back and forth like he owns the place."

"Not good." Bolt whimpered.

"I know boy." Penny said as if understanding him. "Not good at all. It's best if you work from the edges, remember not to hurt innocents." Bolt nodded. "Now, sick 'em." The super dog grinned and ran past her, Isai and Satori following.

"Ok." Bolt huffed. Calico was standing at the top of the stairs leading to a building with the mayor tied to a chair. Bolt and the others were one stair set down from them at the edges of the crowd. "Someone draw their attention."

"I'm on it." Isai ran through the crowd and burst through the line of goons.

"Hold it!" one of them yelled as Isai ran between his legs. Bolt ran from the staircase to a cluster of three goons that had banded together when Isai ran through. His first leap took one of them in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Bolt jumped again, landing a perfect head-butt to the second goon's jaw. One winded one unconscious.

"Isai, Satori, now!" he barked. Both retrievers attacked the last guard. Isai grabbed his right arm and the goon raised his electrified left glove for a swipe that would kill the pedigree retriever. Then Satori bit into his left arm, inhibiting him from preforming the deadly attack. Finally, Bolt hit him in the chest and both dogs let go as he sprawled on the ground. "Again." Bolt barked, and they ran towards a cluster of four goons. Isai and Satori used the same double arm bite tactic, allowing Bolt to deliver another head-butt to the goon's jaw. A goon charged at them and the three dogs regrouped into a line. Satori and Isai exchanged a look and Satori climbed on Isai's back.

"Bolt, climb on us!" she called to him. Bolt saw what she was planning and jumped up Isai onto her back. The goon realized too late what was happening and had Bolt's iron body flying at his face.

"Another one bites the dust." Bolt yapped as the guard hit the ground. He smashed straight into the legs of another incoming guard, causing him to fall on his face before leaping straight into the chest of the last guard. Another one was here to join the fray now and he went down with a quick head-butt to the jaw. Another two came running and Bolt flicked a quick look to Isai and Satori. The two retrievers got the message. Isai grabbed one's rubber boot and Satori pulled the goon's left arm towards the floor. Bolt hit him a perfect bull's eye in the centre of his body, sending him flying to the ground. "Isai, look out!" Bolt flew over the retriever's shoulder, biting viciously into the hand of the goon about to electrocute the dog. Of course, Bolt electrocuted himself in the process, but it was well worth it, besides, as an indestructible super dog, there wasn't much to worry about. He didn't need to do much in the end as by that point, Satori was viciously ripping into the flesh of his arm and Isai had him by the boot. Bolt got up and shook himself briefly before slamming into the goon to punish him. The super dog shuddered. A little more power than he would've liked. Probably broke a rib. Another goon came running to join in but Bolt flew onto his chest. Isai ran into the goon's legs, bowling him over. Bolt leapt for one of two goons that were running over and attached himself to his chest. Isai charged over and smashed into his legs, taking his feet out from under him. Then, Satori grabbed the goon's collar and threw him into one of three goons running over to them. Bolt was a split second after her, pouncing on the goon falling over and slamming him to the ground. Then he leapt for a second target and attached himself to the goon's chest. Isai came barrelling in from the side and pushed him over. Bolt smacked into the third goon's chest.

"Ugh!" Calico yelled, making a call on his cell phone.

"That was great." Isai barked grinning. Bolt laughed, and then looked up as the sound of a CaliCorp helicopter split the air.

"Uh oh. You two better run." The two dogs looked at each other before following the fleeing crowd. The helicopter hovered overhead, standing off with Bolt before firing its machine gun at him. Bolt ran all around the area they'd been fighting in, expertly avoiding the bullets.

"Just get him!" Calico yelled annoyed. The helicopter shot a missile, but Bolt grabbed it and sent it flying back at the helicopter. The missile hit the copter and it blew up. Calico growled. Bolt turned to him. Calico looked around unsure of what to do, then pulled out a pocket knife and held it against the mayor's throat. "You'd better not move." He told Bolt. Then, the knife was flicked from his grasp and something very large hit him in the head. "Gahhh!" Calico screamed, rubbing his head. Penny caught the spinning Wheel Bar like a boomerang. Calico growled in frustration. "Gus! Get that girl!" the wolfdog growled advancing towards Penny.

"Um…" she began to back away. Then Gus was bowled over by Bolt. the super dog faced Calico, rage in his eyes as he slowly put his right forepaw forward and his left hind paw backwards, watching Calico's expression slowly turn to one of horror.

"You wouldn't dare…" He said almost in a low whisper.

"No!" Gus turned for an attack. Bolt turned his head and growled.

"You'd better not be going anywhere except down those stairs or I will bark before you can say 'cat'." He snarled.

"Ok… ok…" Gus whimpered, obeying.

"Good wolfdog. Now sit!"

"Alright! …alright… I'm sitting." The wolfdog did as he was told.

"Good boy. Now stay sitting while I take care of this unfinished business." Bolt grinned.

"What?! But you said…!" Bolt laughed.

"I never said I wouldn't bark, I said I definitely would if you tried to attack me." Bolt crouched holding his breath and growling.

"NO!" the wolfdog howled, covering his eyes with his paws. Calico covered his face knowing there was no defence against this. And then Bolt barked. One completely normal friendly bark. "Huh?" Gus removed his paws. Calico looked as well. The mayor was gone and Bolt was sitting in his place, staring at Calico with his puppy eyes and panting lightly with all the innocence of a child.

"What…" was all the green eyed man said before Bolt licked him. It was something that went WAY against Bolt's moral code, but he did it anyway since it brought Penny and the mayor time to escape. Calico recoiled so aggressively, Murk fell of his shoulder and he kneeled over, wiping of his tongue, all the while Bolt ran from the centre, tongue hanging out one side of his mouth with laughter.


	4. Chapter 4: Scooting Through the Streets

"Sorry about this, sir." Penny said to the mayor, folding out her scooter and pulling him onto it behind her. With Bolt running tirelessly at her side, the trio sped off. The white dog's paws beat at the pavement as they neared the tunnel into the main part of the centre. The low hum of the scooter echoed in the dark as they rushed through the middle of the tall hill separating the mayor's manor from the main part of town. On the other side, they dodged the trees peppering the road and headed to the only road to Penny's house. Bolt's attentive brown eyes flicked to the right and his ears pinned backwards in case anyone was following. But the trio seemed to graze the side of the housing district without any problems. Bolt sharpened his gaze to stare around. They were well on their way to their house now. If anything was going to go wrong, it would go wrong now.

"Just around this corner." Bolt heard Penny said to the mayor over the noise of her bike. The statement didn't warrant a reply, but Bolt gave his person a double bark anyway. The trio rounded the corner and Penny brought her scooter to a screeching halt. "Uh oh!" Bolt stopped in his tracks. Hovering near a tree that was growing by the horse pen on the hill was a CaliCorp helicopter, its searchlight scanning the house and yard. Dread was the first thing that came over the super dog. Then confusion. Why was the helicopter hovering? It knew he wasn't there, shouldn't it be landed? If this was all a heist to kidnap Penny's father, the helicopter was only signifying that CaliCorp was there. Was Calico really that ignorant of his powers? No, Calico wasn't that stupid. The dread returned as Bolt remembered Calico's own super dog. Was he here? No, that couldn't be. Calico and Gus were left in the town square, there was no way they'd lapped the three of them and they couldn't have used the now hovering helicopter to get here, he would've heard them. Bolt charged down the path and over the bridge across the river, anxious to see what was going on. He rounded the corner and had a clear view of the house. Bolt stopped dead. The searchlight was sweeping the house and yard looking for the basement entrance. And lying lazily on top of that entrance, perfectly disguising it, was Isai and Satori. A whirlwind of emotions swept through Bolt. Fear, disbelief, pride. Tears pricked at his eyes, accidentally or on purpose, the two dogs had selflessly thrown their lives on the line to buy him some time. Bolt ran down the path and past the horse pen, to the very top of the hill and down the short path to one of the caves. The super dog jumped up on top of the hill marking the cave mouth and shot out one of the helicopter's rotor blades with his laser eyes. The helicopter began to fall and Bolt super leapt onto it, running across the windscreen and super leaping again, shoving the helicopter over the crest of the hill marking the edge of the property where it crashed. Bolt landed safely in the tree and jumped to the ground. He ran down towards the house. Penny and the mayor had now arrived and the golden retrievers were safely off the basement hatch. Dr. Forrester was in the process of helping the mayor down into the basement.

"You could've been killed!" Bolt told the retrievers breathlessly.

"It was just our way of getting back at that jerk." Isai replied.

"Come on; let's go back to our house, Bolt. I think I've had enough excitement." Satori said, beginning to run off. The other two followed her over the hill.


	5. Chapter 5: Sheila's Adventure

The trio of dogs finally arrived back at Isai and Satori's house. They had gotten way laid with the discovery that five bottles of pills had been in the crashed helicopter and had had to take them back to Dr. Forrester. The three of them wanted nothing more than to find a spot to sit and relax. When they got in, Bolt spotted the cat Isai and Satori shared their house with, Sheila, sitting on a chair by the door. He was about to growl, immediately suspecting the cat of being evil, when his sharp brown eyes spotted the mark on the Turkish Angora's collar depicted not a cat's eye, but a fish. Glancing around, he spotted Isai and Satori had the same markings on their collars and forced himself to calm down. It wasn't in his nature to trust cats, but trusting Mittens had already highlighted the fact that not all cats were bad. And this was unlike any cat Bolt had ever seen. She was wearing a white cap with black and purple diamonds, pink heart shaped sunglasses and an angel shirt. The green eyed man did many strange things, but he never dressed up one of his cats.

"I see you've met Sheila." Isai yawned, helping himself to the pink, fluffy mat near the fireplace.

"I suppose." Bolt flicked one last look to the cat before joining Isai on the mat. Sheila jumped down from the chair and headed behind the purple curtain covering the open door which was propped open by a brick. Satori took the cat's place on the chair and watched from the window as the cat strolled down the garden path and out into the world.

No sooner had Sheila exited the white picket fence surrounding the house, she ran into Bruce, the Siamese male. He wore a multi-coloured hat and a pair of sunglasses as well as a pink and white dappled neck scarf.  
"I have a problem Sheila." He began.

"If it's about the weather, I'm not interested." Sheila replied.

"No, not that. It's the buffalos!" Sheila inclined her head in surprise and the two cats rocketed off at a dash speed faster than Alex the Labrador. They travelled for a while until they reached a dry mountainous area where Bruce lived. Sheila was immediately distracted by a Pieridae and nearly fell into a stream catching it. "Come on!" Bruce pushed, and the cats hopped over the stream and began to climb. They had gotten to the lake when they encountered the first buffalo. It was in a bad mood the second it saw them and started to charge. Sheila quickly armed herself with a rock and threw it, scoring a direct hit on a sensitive spot behind the buffalo's left shoulder. The buffalo stopped in surprise, skidded, and tripped over itself. Bruce yawned. "Take a nap buddy." The two cats refocused their attention on the Pieridaes flying by as the buffalo got back up and shook its head. It saw the cats playing with the butterflies and mooed, heading to the lake to get a drink. On its way, it kicked something in the dust which caught Bruce's attention. "Hey, what's that?" Sheila stopped chasing the butterfly and looked at it.

"Oh yes, the dogs were looking for these. I'll take it to them." Sheila picked up the bottle of pills and put it in a pocket in her shirt. The two cats turned and began to climb again. They'd reached the dead end peek when they saw the next buffalo. Sheila quickly grabbed another rock and waited. The buffalo eventually saw them and charged. Sheila threw the rock at the buffalo's left shoulder and scored another direct hit, causing the buffalo to trip and fall. The two cats went past and Sheila began to push the rocks out of the way.

"Hey look!" Bruce pointed to something fallen in a crack between the rocks.

"Another one? How'd it get way over here?" asked Sheila, climbing over the rocks and grabbing the pill jar to put in her pocket.

"Maybe someone dropped it on their way through." Suggested Bruce as they climbed over the fallen rocks. Up ahead a buffalo was blocking the path. No sooner had the two cats scrambled over the rocks, the buffalo charged, and Sheila was hard pressed to arm herself in time. In the nick of time, she found a rock and managed to clip the buffalo's left shoulder. The buffalo mooed in surprise and halted his charge, legs splaying everywhere as he struggled to stay standing, let alone figure out what had hit him. Bruce snuck past the buffalo and kicked out one of its back legs, causing it to fall onto its back. Bruce and Sheila quickly climbed back over the rocks and down from the dead end peek. Upon reaching the path to the peek, they banked left and headed to the last buffalo. It was in a particularly foul mood and charged at the two cats as soon as it saw them. Sheila looked around, but this time there was no stones.

"Time to do it the old fashioned way." Muttered Sheila as she mislead the buffalo into charging into the cliff wall. The buffalo hit the wall with an Earth shattering crash and looked around in confusion before stepping to the side and nosing through the dusty ground.

"Ah! Finally it's over." Bruce sighed with relief and the two cats began to chase Pieridaes. Eventually the butterflies lead them back up to the dead end peek. Bruce stopped laughing when he saw the stone cat. Flicking his ears, he slowly padded over to it. Sheila noticed and stopped laughing as well.

"Bruce?" she asked, coming over.

"Here lies the great Ocelot Traveller. He helped us with the weather and we truly have no idea what we'd do without him." Bruce read the inscription and the two cats were silent for a long minute. Then a cracking came from the carved statue and the rock ocelot moved one paw to push something to them. It was another pill bottle.

"But… how…?" Sheila asked dumbfounded as she picked it up and put it in her pocket.

"He was always aware of what was going on in the world… I guess he wanted to help." Bruce answered simply, and the two cats began to journey back down the cliff.


	6. Chapter 6: Sheila: A Kitty's Tail

Bolt had no idea how the cat had done it, but somehow Sheila had returned to hand them three bottles of pills. He pondered the cat's existence as he walked to town. How had she known about the pills anyway? Did Isai talk to her? Did she just see him with the pill bottles from earlier and put two and two together? And the begged the question of how she found the pill bottles she'd brought back in the first place. Did she purposely look for them? Was she just in the right place at the right time?

"I'll never understand cats." Bolt muttered as he crossed the bridge. Bolt wondered if the cat would make another good spy. At least she'd give Mittens some company. Come to think of it, where was Mittens? Bolt wandered past the housing district and into the centre. Then he stopped. Sheila was pacing back and forth across the road in front of him. When the cat noticed the American White Sheppard, she stopped, wagging her tail from side to side angrily.

"Ugh, goodbye forever, peace and quiet." She yawned. "Have you seen those black clad men? Even here they're everywhere! I'll never find anywhere here to relax." And with that, she stalked off again, brushing her tail under Bolt's chin as she did so.

"Looks like I've got some work to do." Bolt muttered, beginning to run off.

"And there he goes, like a typical dog." Sheila muttered watching him as she sat on a hill next to the road beside a staircase. "Maybe he'll clean out some of those men so I can get some peace." Sheila stretched and walked towards the tunnel after Bolt.

She reached the other side and walked past the mayor's house to a rust coloured fountain, jumping up on the lip and sitting on it. There were several coins glistening in the bottom. Sheila didn't get why humans threw away their money like that, there were probably enough pennies in the fountain to make a fortune. Sheila's shielded eyes gazed around at the multitude of dark clothed men roaming around. She never understood these men. Didn't they have anything better to do? Sheila gave a light huff, as a cat; there wasn't much else she could do to express her disapproval. She could see one of the men coming now. Sheila's head twisted slowly as she watched him, then, when he was close enough, the cat threw herself in front of him, twining around one of his legs like a coil and wagging her tail playfully. Sheila scent marked the man as her property and gave a medium length meow, requesting food and water from him. The man tripped and fell into the fountain with a loud splash. "Woo!" Sheila cheered, shaking a few water droplets from her fur and padding on. The water from the fountain was running down a pipe out into another decorative fountain like feature. It was more like a lake this one, but it was good enough. Sheila padded down the path beside the fountain and then trotted across in front of another black clad man. Sheila went for the leg opposite to the one she'd targeted with the first man, twining around it with a playful wag of her tail and scent marking him as her property while she emitted a food and water request. This man also tripped over, landing in the fountain with near perfect accuracy. "Oh yeah!" Sheila cheered as the water kicked up fell across the path in front of her. The cat got up and headed over to a wall one of the black clad men was standing on. Sheila jumped up and hit him directly in the chest, knocking him off the wall. The man screamed, throwing Sheila off him with an electrically charged glove to land on the opposite side of the wall. After a minute or two, Sheila pulled herself to her feet, shaking in pain. "Careful Sheila." The cat reminded herself. "You only have two lives left now." She turned and padded back past the mayor's house through the tunnel. Back in the main part of the centre, she headed past the butchers and a big tree in the centre to the grocers. Sheila padded down the wooden stairs and through the automatic doors. Then she headed to the clerk behind the counter and gave a medium length meow to request food.

"Aww, hi there snooker. Would you like some dried sardines?" Sheila gave a low meow of dissatisfaction. "Ok, well perhaps I could interest you in some canned tuna?" Sheila purred and meowed insistently. "sold." The clerk retrieved the item from one of the shelves and took it back to her desk, opening it for Sheila. The Turkish Angora dug in and emptied the can. Sheila gave a long, glad meow and exited the store.


	7. Chapter 7: the Mountain Side

Down the train line that left the centre and high up into the cold snowy regions of the continent, Bolt and his friends were blissfully unaware that someone else was peacefully residing. In the town of Lakelands, high up on the mountain side of mount WA, WA sat a dark red and white wolfdog husky cross named Nek. He was digging in the snow for his favourite ball and soon found it buried under the snow pile. Dragging it out he started shaking it harshly. Of all his toys, the ball HAD to take the cake as his favourite. The wolfdog grinned when he was finished trying to tear his ball to shreds and put it down, yawning before plonking himself down and beginning to slide all the way down, dodging around falling rocks that were the mountain side's claim to fame, past the small cabin that served as his house, and all the way to the entrance to the mountain top. Once there, he travelled along the mountain top to the cable car system and hopped aboard one to head down to the high street. The humans riding the car didn't seem to mind him, so he sat in one corner with a yawn and waited for the boring trip to end. Once he'd reached the high street, he exited the car and trotted down the street to the café by the train station. He'd promised himself that one day he'd ride the trains, but they were always so busy he'd never gotten around to it. He entered the café and trotted to the slot machine they had there. He wasn't quite sure what the purpose of it was, he'd heard of this 'gambolling' from people up at a place called Boom City. He also knew there was a train that went up there, but because of the busy station, he was yet to check it out. He still remembered the day the people had come down. They'd chatted to the café owner for hours about 'gambolling' and how it worked. Nek was pretty sure he'd heard the word 'illegal' somewhere in their explanation, which really made him interested. 'Illegal' was one of his favourite words. A few days later, this slot machine had been installed. When checking it out he'd immediately been confused as he was certain that they Boom City people had mentioned having to pay to use it, however, this slot machine was free. It didn't matter much to him, considering the lever that made the thing work was well within his reach. Nek pulled down the lever and wagged his tail as he watched the three symbols spin around at uncomprehend able speeds. As a sled dog, he'd always dreamed of being able to reach such speeds. Eventually all the pictures lined up and Nek wagged his tail even harder as he saw the pictures were all the same and stared at the slot his prize would come out of. What emerged was a lemon. Nek scoffed at the fruit disapprovingly. He couldn't eat that! Unless he wanted to throw up of course, which sounded like a good naughty thing to do, but he'd learnt from experience that that was a bad idea. Nek exited the café and instead headed to the ski slope down the road where he ate all the dog food from a local Weimaraner.

"What do you think you're doing, Dakota?" someone snickered.

"I'm eating, what does it look like, smart-ass?" Nek scoffed turning and brushing past the Weimaraner. They were roughly the same size. The Weimaraner stepped in front of him.

"Ya know, I was coming here to eat too, but I might as well eat YOU!"

"You're better off hunting a bull moose than eating me." Dakota laughed. The Weimaraner growled and lunged at Dakota, pinning him and attempted to bite at his throat. Dakota expertly kicked him over his head with one hind leg. Dakota rolled back onto his paws to face off with the Weimaraner. Dakota grinned overconfidently.

" _I'm Diallo now!"_ he thought. There was no way the Weimaraner could win this fight, as a wolfdog, Dakota was way stronger than him. The Weimaraner lunged at Dakota who expertly dodged and clamped his teeth around the Weimaraner's neck, pulling hard. Not hard enough to draw blood, but it sure made the dog afraid. As soon as Dakota let him go, he ran off yelping.

"That's right, back to the top of the ski slope where you can pretend to be top dog in safety." Dakota scoffed watching him run off. "Is there anyone I can't beat?" he asked himself. Then his expression fell as two names came to mind. The first he thought of was Demon Eye. Demon Eye was better known as Killer and, unlike Dakota, had travelled every train line with the local dog catcher as his owner. He was a fierce Doberman who stopped at nothing to catch his prey. In this case, stray dogs. His eyes were bicoloured blue and yellow and he was a force to be reckoned with. Dakota had taken him on once and hadn't landed a single attack on him. The fight had technically ended in a tie as his owner had turned up to save him and gotten into a heated argument with the dog catcher. The last he heard the matter had been taken down in a place known as 'court' in Boom City which neither dog attended. Dakota wasn't very interested in what had happened anyway, it sounded boring. The second name he thought of was Gus. Gus was a wolfdog like him and a real weakling. He'd barely attacked him when they met in the dog fights. He'd only ever fought him once in his entire career of dog fighting. But then he ran into him a ways into his career as a sled dog. Initially he'd laughed at the mention of his old foe's name but when he showed up later, he'd almost beaten him into a pulp with two hits. Had it not been for that super dog Bolt, there was no way Dakota would be alive right now. Dakota stood up and began to run back to the high street.


	8. Chapter 8: A Wolfdog's Tail

Just before making the turn into the high street, Dakota stopped and looked back, thinking about heading to the café again. he looked up into the slightly grey sky filled with snow clouds and decided that this was around the time Killer was by the train station, so he decided against it. Dakota still remembered the way Killer took him down like a master fighter. He'd made it a point to stay away from him ever since that experience. Dakota trotted to the high street and made his way back home. On his way, he nodded respectfully to a malamute husky who barked a friendly greeting and jumped into a cable car. It took him up to the mountain top and Dakota made his way down the snowy path and over the bridge to a big, long log which he crossed to get to the tunnel to the mountain side and began to make his way up to the cabin, being very careful to avoid the falling rocks. Once he arrived, Dakota squeezed in through a window and lay down on a rug, planning to take a nice nap. Dakota fell asleep that afternoon thinking. As the sunset outside and Dakota's eyes slowly closed, he thought about how he enjoyed living out here where there were plenty of amazing views, places to climb up to, places to run around, ice to slide on, and the promise of new places to explore, should he manage to get around to it. The town was kind of sleepy, but not in an annoying way, it was still bustling if you could find the right place. It reminded him vaguely of the place he was born. He wondered briefly what had become of his family. Dakota had been so afraid of losing his family, yet he was never afraid of leaving them. He kind of wondered why. Did he not care? No, that couldn't be it. Maybe it WAS all down to the fact that his hometown was so sleepy with not enough bustle. That got him thinking more. His mother was a dog, his father a half wolf, and him and all his siblings had been one quarter wolf, although looking more like dogs, except for one named Alice. Unlike the rest of them with light or dark red and white fur, Alice had had grey fur. That got him thinking about Gus again. He wondered if the wolfdog was in fact his brother.

" _Now I'm just being stupid."_ Dakota told himself before he fell asleep, never to know how right he could've been.


	9. Chapter 9: Chew Chew Train

"Bolt!" that was the one scream Bolt could ever hear through his supersonic hearing that threw his heart into his mouth. Bolt dashed through the tunnel to the train station in time to see Calico, Gus, and some henchmen boarding a train with Penny. Seconds later, Isai and Satori appeared behind him.

"Guys! What happened? Did they get the professor too?!" Bolt was panicked.

"No." Isai panted. "Just her unfortunately. Curse that stupid super wolfdog." Bolt was so panicked, he was panting.

"How did this happen? You weren't hurt, were you?"

"No." Satori piped up. "We took the ring of power. Gave 'em hell."

"The professor and the mayor are safe. Too bad we couldn't save this one." Isai informed him.

"Thanks for your help… I'll take it from here." Bolt turned and tore through the station before he leapt onto the tracks and dashed after the train as it reached a tunnel. Bolt tore into the darkness and ran up one wall of the tunnel to jump onto the roof of the train. Then, he crouched and waited.

Bolt didn't know how long they'd been travelling when they left the tunnel. He looked up and saw something that wasn't there before. The wolfdog.

"You interrupted my nap!" Gus growled.

"You don't deserve a nap." Bolt shot back. The two super dogs charged at each other and crashed into each other with a sickening crunch. The struggle continued for multiple minutes until Gus jerked his head fiercely, nearly throwing Bolt off the train. The super dog's right forepaw twisted awkwardly, obtaining a short, pained whimper from the Sheppard before he lunched himself at the wolfdog. After some more fighting, Bolt saw Gus' gaze inexplicably shift. Bolt looked back and then leapt just in time to avoid an attack from one of Calico's henchmen. Bolt's eyes flicked around, trying to decide how to deal with all this when Gus scored a super powered hit to Bolt's side over the dog's ribcage with pinpoint accuracy. Bolt coughed, shaking and getting to his feet.

" _Since when did I become so bad at this?"_ Bolt thought desperately to himself as Gus charged again. Bolt whirled around and lashed out with his rear legs, hitting Gus' face pretty hard. The wolfdog fell back and licked one paw in order to message his bruised face. Bolt turned his attention to the goon on top of the train with them and easily knocked him off. For a split second, he remembered what it was like when Gus wasn't a threat, and, rather grimly, that if the wolfdog didn't exist, this would never have happened. Bolt made his way to the next car and whipped around to see Gus leaping over the cars at him. Bolt pounced at the wolfdog's chest and sent him flying back, almost off the train. Gus clung tight to the car, fear beginning to show in his eyes. Bolt snarled menacingly and stalked towards him. Gus seemed to almost gulp a little as Bolt advanced. Then, the super dog hit him hard under the jaw, sending him flying back and crashing into the car behind them, leaving a dent. Gus fell onto the metal bar linking the cars together and looked up to Bolt standing over him high above. With a snarl, Bolt snapped the metal with his laser eyes and the car behind them came to a halt and Gus fell onto the track as the car Bolt stood on sped off without him. With no super speed, the wolfdog would never catch them in time. Bolt headed on down the train.


	10. Chapter 10: Fetch the Train

The train pulled up at a café in a snow covered town. Bolt allowed himself to lose focus momentarily in order to ponder what they were doing here. People were exiting the train and he scanned them sharply, but with no trance of the Green Eyed Man. An announcement came from the train station on the side of the tracks that Bolt picked up with this super sharp hearing. It named the village Bolt lived in and announced the train to it would be leaving shortly. Obviously this train wasn't continuing any further. Calico wouldn't be planning to head back. that would be stupid. Then suddenly, he spotted him and his henchmen in the middle of the two tracks, moving towards a train on the opposite side of the station. Bolt saw a guy reading a newspaper on a bench on the platform and wondered why he didn't board the waiting train. Perhaps he was one of Calico's henchmen. A Doberman was sitting beside him with bi coloured blue and yellow eyes. The guy sitting on the bench was obviously his owner. Had CaliCorp come to collect the dog? Bolt forced himself to look again. That couldn't be right. The guy reading the paper had a blue shirt on and no trace of CaliCorp armour or even their stupid cat's eye logo.

"Bolt!" the super dog's ears pricked and he remembered why he was here in the first place. He jumped trains onto the one opposite and searched for a way to save his person. Initially he thought about collapsing the tunnel ahead, but the mountain would likely cave in. his problem was solved for him when a plasma blast came from over his shoulder and hit the snowy mountain, causing an avalanche of snow to fall onto the tracks. The train was going nowhere.

"Thanks…" Bolt turned around. "…Gus?" the wolfdog grinned menacingly and started towards the train. "How does he keep turning up?" Bolt panted in an almost panic, turning and running a few cars away. He turned and watched the wolfdog climb up onto the train before looking down at a door towards the front of the train. Penny was already loaded, perfect. Bolt leapt over to the car Gus was standing on in a mock super jump, instead missing the roof and kicking off the car's wall. he crashed into the car he was previously standing on and gave it a hefty shove as he pushed off, diving towards the ground and took out the connecting rod for the cars with his super strength. The front car began to roll down the tracks and he jumped back on top of it, running to the end and grabbing the emergency escape hatch with his teeth, easily prying the metal apart and jumping down into the car. The goon he was facing held Penny up in front of him like a human shield. Bolt ran between her legs and pounced upwards, knocking the goon back and taking out her restraints. Before Bolt was even back on the ground, Penny managed to open the door. The two leapt through the door and Penny somersaulted to break her fall as they rushed for the cover of the other train.


End file.
